GOP presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, will likely face charges for ethics violations on Monday for profiteering from the 2009 auto bailout initiated by the Obama Administration, reports AllVoices.com.
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According to an in-depth report by The Nation.com, Romney and his wife, Ann, “personally gained at least $15.3 million from the bailout—and a few of Romney’s most important Wall Street donors made more than $4 billion. Their gains, and the Romney’s, were astronomical—more than 3,000 percent on their investment.”
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This, even though Romney has consistently criticized the president for the bailout; in fact, writing a 2008 “New York Times” op-ed titled, “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt,” that has haunted him politically throughout the campaign.
“A coalition of community, labor and good government organizations is calling on the U.S. Office of Government Ethics to investigate presidential candidate Mitt Romney for noncompliance with the Ethics in Government Act and compel him to either disclose his investments or divest them,” according to the United Auto Workers Union, who requested the charges.
The Romney profits came from Adelphi, a former parts supplier of the Delco division of General Motors. Adelphi was not technically supposed to be included in the federal bailout money given to the auto industry. But since neither GM nor Chrysler could survive without parts from Adelphi, $12.9 million in federal bailout money was demanded by investors and eventually diverted to hedge funds that Mitt and Ann Romney bought into.
Romney did not disclose his windfall profits from Delphi in his June 1, 2012, Public Financial Disclosure Report to the office of Government Ethics, “because he did not disclose the underlying holdings of his private equity and limited partnership funds,” according to the UAW.
With the UAW charges coming to light, the reason for Mitt Romney’s hiden tax returns becomes more apparent and more important as he seeks the presidency.
This comes on the heels of the news that Senator Harry Reid was right to accuse Romney of avoiding paying his taxes.
As NewsOne reported, Mitt Romney used the tax-exempt status of a charity — the Mormon Church of Latter Day Saints– to avoid paying taxes for over 15 years. He “rented” tax-exempt status from them, setting up a Charitable Remainder Unitrust (CRUT), that paid him yearly dividends, while donating a miniscule amount to the church. The trade-off is at his death, the balance of the trust is gifted to the Mormon Church of Latter Day Saints.
Congress aggressively cracked down on this rich man scheme in 1997, but according to Bloomberg’s Jesse Rucker, Romney was grandfathered in because he established the tax shelter in 1996 while he was an executive at Bain Capital.
With only two days to go until the 2012 presidential election, it may or may not have any effect on the outcome. But, if the sky falls in and Romney wins, then is found guilty of ethics charges due to auto bailout profiteering, it may be slightly awkward to face criminal charges while in the White House.
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